Loving Photographs

              Thanks to Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at Kidlit Frenzy, those who link up share fabulous non-fiction picture books. I am grateful for all that I've learned through reading non-fiction picture books. 

I finally received this from my library. It had many holds, hopefully giving hope to children who are "antsy" in school as Ansel Adams was. Fortunately his father went against convention and understood that his "wiggly" son, often in trouble in school, needed to be active and outside in a lively place so he could be "antsy". Ansel's father pulled him out of school and hired a tutor and a piano teacher. Ansel was finally free to spend a lot of time on the dunes where they lived near the Golden Gate bridge. He loved nature, a hint of how much of its beauty he captured later with a camera.
     There were other inspirations as he grew up, but seemingly the biggest was a first visit to Yosemite, and the surprise gift of a camera. One could say he was "captured" by it, as he later "captured" his photo subjects.
           Ansel returned to Yosemite often, eventually meeting and marrying a young woman whose family lived there, and making it their home, too.
      I loved the illustrations which are a mix of collage paintings that include some of the sites Ansel photographed. There is a detailed piece about Ansel Adams and a list of resources in the back matter.